Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-09-07
THE NEED OF FUEL

The NEED OF FUEL.
Inc cry for manufacturing enterprises
in Texas is almost universal. From every
town and city comes the invitation for
capitalists to organize enterprises for the
purpose OF manufacturing, ready for
market, articles OF consumption, the raw
materials Of which are to be found in
abundance in gu. midst There are
various characters OF manufacturing en-
/ terprises, but only portion of them
adapted to Texas, SO far. We might say
than wooden and Gotten factories work TO
a disadvantage here, owing to
the enormous expense which they
are compelled to incur in the matter
OF fuel. Eastern competitors pay
not more than s. 80 per ton for cosI Gnd
are content II they secure return Of or
> per cent. on the capital invested. Texas
coal costs from 81 to S. and capital is
striving to make profit on the invest
ment in the face OF this condition OF sf-
fairs. 1t is quite evident that our home
cotton and wooden factories will labor
under disadvantage until cheaper fuel
| is discovered and msde available. We
save the difference in freights,
perhaps, but southern capital
is not satisfied with the small margin of
profits earned in the east. There are
other industries that can be made remu-
nerative in Texas after paying the large
cost of fuel OF these may be mentioned
| ironworks as prominent instance. The
two establishments of this character in
this city ere almost constantly increasing
their forces, and are crowded with Or
ders beyond their capacity to fill. This
lis because not intolerebIe administra-
ton of the Interstate commerce law,
lby an equalization Of freight rates,
gives the advantage decidedly in
favor of our home works. The great
weight Of the product makes il desirable
and necessary to minimise the distance
which 1t is hauled to the lowest possible
figure. Pig iron c1n be laid down in
Fort Worth, from the Rusk furnace, and
converted into articles Of commerce with
| high priced fuel cheaper than the manu-
featured articles from fayorite districts
can be delivered after paying the freights
demanded by the railroads. There are
many other industries, in addition to the
one cited, similarly situated, and could
be made profitable, but the great ques-
ton to be solved before al marufactur-
| Jug enterprises can contest the ground
with distant competitors, is a cheap
fuel. 1t is therefore wisdom on the
part of our people to bend their energies
in the direction OF securing this au-impor-
tant item. That this can be accomplished
there is no longer doubt, and that by an
effort much less IN magnitude than has
been made for less necessary objects.
The proposed railroad-the Fort Worth
Western which runs through the coal
fields of Jack county, should be pushed
at least as far as the coal lands, and when
this is accomplished the future, not only
Of Fort Worth, but of North Texas, will
| be secure. Seventy-fve miles of railroad
will give US fuel as cheap, or nearly SIS
cheap. as it is furnished to eastern
i manufacturers. We have an unlimited
area OF mineral lands which can then be
developed, and, by saving the enormous
charges of transportation now being paid,
place the manufactured articles on the
market st lower figure than they can be
shipped from the east, besides paying
much larger interest on the capital in
vested Fort Worth has frequently dis
PLAYED her energy and public spirit in
securing railroads, as her msgnif cent
distributing facilities attest; she has yet
one task TO perform in this direc.
ton, the last perhaps, yet the
one which will result in greater
benefit to her than any other-that Of pen
etrating the coal fields on the line of the
proposed Fort Worth Western. few OF
the citizens of our neighboring city OF
Dallas, with an ambition and foresight
disproportioned to the close-fsted con-
servatism of their fellow citizens, have
taken some steps in the matter Of project
ing line OF road through this same ter
ritory, but snd The GAZETTE mentions
il with regret, because this paper would
like to see Dallas aroused to the impor-
lance OF the project, for the benefit OF
the state st large there is little likeli-
hood that their efforts will ever ex-
tend beyond limited survey
and an elaborate discussion Of the
question. The economy and prosperity
OF North Texas demands that these coal